Pavlova

1h 15m

6h to overnight

8 servings

One of the simplest, but still show-stopping desserts, which you can throw together in fifteen minutes (and wait for it to set for a few hours, but who's counting). Especially suring hot summer months this Italian delicacy can be a great home-made alternative, if you don't have ice cream on your hand and don't want to go through the trouble of making it at home.

Ingredients

Meringue

4 egg whites
250 g granulated sugar
15 ml white wine vinegar
8 g cornstarch
15 ml vanilla essence

Topping

250 g of any fresh fruit
200 g whipping cream

Directions

Turn your oven to 150°C.
Whip the egg whites until frothy, then start slowly adding the sugar, by the spoonful, while still mixing. Don't add too much at once, or they might deflate!
Whip until stiff peaks form, then gently mix in by hand the vinegar, cornstarch and vanilla.
Spread the mixture in a circle on a baking tray lined with baking paper. This amount is perfect for a diameter of 20-25 cm. Make the middle of the disc a little flatter than the edges, to make it cook more evenly.
Bake in the oven for 1 hour, then turn off the heat and leave the meringue to cool completely in the closed over.
When ready to serve, top the meringue with whipping cream and cut up fresh strawberries.

Notes

Make sure to not overmix the meringue when adding the vinegar, cornstarch and vanilla, or it could deflate. To prevent this from happening, use a rubber spatula and mix the additions in by hand, just until no more streaks of starch are visible.

When making the meringue disc, smooth out the top as well as you can, so there are no spikes. These would cook way faster than the remainder of the meringue and could even burn.

Mini pavlovas: If you prefer to make several smaller pavlovas instead of one large one, it's perfectly fine to do so. Just keep in mind the cooking time may need to be shorter depending on the size of the meringues.